BBM is coming to Android and iOS

In a surprise move by Research in Motion (RIM), it has been announced that the ever popular messaging application “BlackBerry Messenger” will soon be freely available on Android and iOS devices. Too little too late?

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins has announced that soon Android and iOS users will be able to join the 60 million strong BBM community, enabling them to take advantage of Live BBM chats, Multi-person Chats, Voice note sharing and Group Chats. RIM claims that an average of more than 10 Billion BBM messages are sent every day, which is twice as many messages per day when compared to other mobile messaging apps.

Too little too late? Is this move by RIM going to help them in any way or are they indirectly admitting defeat? Many people simply like the BBM application more than their BlackBerry device itself, will this open another door for loyal Blackerry/BBM enthusiasts to move on to a different device or OS? What kind of impact will this move actually have when one considers other free, cross-platform applications such as Skype, Whatsapp and Facebook?Only time will tell..

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